Tag Archives: waterfall

So here goes. I’ll share with you exactly where we went to, what we did and some places that you shouldn’t miss! Be warned that it’s going to be a rather long post 🙂

Day 1 – From Jimbaran to Amed

Our journey started form Jimbaran where we have stayed throughout our visit to Bali. I pre-booked the accommodations through Booking.com a few days before. Since I have used their site so much in the past half a year I have gained some special status so all the costs for accommodations were really inexpensive :). Either way here are the places we visited on day 1

Tegallalang rice terrace – a beautiful deep valley with precision placed rice fields. A beautiful sight but it can be really touristy

Gunung Kawi temple – temple carved out from stone cliffs. Differs from a lot of temples in Bali so would recommend a visit

Tukad Cepung waterfall – this is something different from all the other waterfalls we’ve seen so far. To get to the waterfall itself you have to walk through a rather deep valley which is filled with about half a meter of water. But the walk and the waterfall itself are definitely worth a visit. Just be prepared to get wet!

Mountain road of Lempuyang Luhur – magnificent scenery of the mountains and jungle. You can also get a great view of the sleeping giant Mount Agung itself!

Amed itself is a laid-back town with a quiet atmosphere, beautiful black-sand beaches for snorkeling and more than enough places to stay for the night and grab a delicious meal. It’s hugely popular among divers (as are most of the places in northern side of Bali). All this adds up to a great place where to stay when visiting Bali. We spent the night at Fun Divers resort which is a really nice place with everything you need.

Day 2 – from Amed to Lovina

Snorkeling at Amed beach – just a few meters form the shoreline a magnificent underwater world unveils. One of the best places to snorkel in Bali

Discovering the wreck of US Liberty at Tulamben – this was quite an experience. In order to get a better view of the wreck you need to go diving (it’s the most popular diving spot in whole Bali) but you can also see quite much while just snorkeling. In some sense it was quite terrifying to see this huge ship laying in the bottom of the ocean and being slowly devoured by it. Sadly I have no pictures of it, it’s something that you just have to go and see for yourself! You can read more about the ship from here.

Mount Batur and Lake Batur – in order to get there from the shoreline you will end up in a narrow mountain road that will literally lead you into the clouds! This was definitely the most frightening road I’ve ever driven on with huge drops and steep curves! In several places the road itself was carried away by flood waters. But the adventure was memorable! The views to the clouds and valleys below were just breathtaking. And in the midst of all this there were people living – going to school, building a house, farming on 50 degree slopes and so on :). When you arrive at the lake it’s also quite a sight. It just feels like you’re in a some sort of magical village that lies in the clouds. At least it was like that when we were there. It’s definitely advisable to go inland between the mountains every once in while, not to just stay in the main seaside road.

Lovina-Singaraja area is much more busy and noisier place compared to Amed and Pemuteran (due to the fact that Singaraja is the second largest city on the island). It’s hugely popular for dolphin watching but this time we decided to skip that. It will be in our plans for future travels :). We spent the night at Puspa Rama Pondok Wisata which was ok, but nothing special.

I must warn you that if you plan to visit more mountainous areas be ready to get a little bit wet. All the warm air that comes from the ocean gets colder when hitting the mountains and pours down as a rainfall. The air up there is much more damper, colder and it rains much more. So even if at the beach the sun is shining just an half an hour drive to the mountains and it’s raining.

Secondly be prepared to climb a lot of stairs. And I mean A LOT! There’s a staircase leading to almost every beach, waterfall, mountain temple and any sightseeing place out here. And they are not small ones. So climbing a few thousand stairs in a day (I’m not exaggerating) can be quite normal here 🙂

Day 3 – from Lovina to Pemuteran

Our first stop was Aling-Aling waterfall. It’s actually a set of many consecutive waterfalls with a beautiful river connecting them. Highly recommend to visit! It’s also very popular for cliff diving and sliding down the various slopes of the waterfalls.

Banjar Hot Spring – there are numerous hot springs located all over Bali but this one caught our attention. The entrance fee was very reasonable (20.000 rupiah per person) compared to many other similar places and it had everything you need from a large swimming pool to smaller baths and even water-massages. The water is a constant 38 degrees Celsius so it’s like being in a nice and warm bath 🙂

Pemutaran is a really nice place with beautiful mountains, beaches with totally see-through water and also this kind of laid back atmosphere. We spent the night at D&D Dive Center/Trijaya Guesthouse and honestly it was one of the best places we’ve stayed! I really really recommend this place – staff was very friendly and helpful, everything was clean, breakfast and all other foods (there’s also a restaurant) were delicious, the bathroom/shower looked like being in a tropical rainforest and all of that for the same money as having a proper dinner for two (here in Bali). It was so nice that we actually decided to stay for one more night although the original plan was to drive on.

Day 4 – spending time around Pemuteran

After 3 days on a scooter it was really good to have a quieter day. As said before scooter is still meant for smaller drives, not discovering the whole world 🙂

Snorkeling at Pemuteran beach – it’s like being in an underwater museum. Honestly, it’s nothing that I’ve ever seen before. In order to get corals growing back in the beach again they decided to make several metal/concrete sculptures and drop them near the beach at about 5-10m deep water. It’s actually working and the sea life has started using these as their homes and more and more sculptures have been dropped. It looks like an underwater exhibit. Marine life is very colorful here so it’s a place that shouldn’t be missed!

The most beautiful place that I’ve ever been to – more about it in tomorrow’s post 🙂

Actually the best place for snorkeling in Bali is considered to be Menjangan island but since it’s a part of the National park it’s quite expensive to get there (tours starting around 1mln rupiah per person). They don’t want to let too much people in the park (which is totally understandable) in order to preserve wildlife. Nevertheless if you have the opportunity to go there it’s definitely worth it, I’ve heard only good things about it!

Day 5 – driving back home to Jimbaran

It was going to be a long day on the scooter and after the morning swim/snorkeling we headed off. There was no place particular we planned to stay but I’d like to bring out Balian beach once more. We stayed there before while visiting a friend but the Balian Beach Surf Camp is a truly nice place to stay for the night while listening to relaxing waves, surfing or just chilling by the sea or having a delicious dinner at the local cafe.

One more thing that is quite rare in Bali is driving on a road where there are no houses or villages near you. Most of Bali is quite densely populated and even if you’re not in a village or town as such there are still almost always some houses by the road. But when driving on the road towards Gilimanuk near the National park you can truly get miles of road basically without any inhabitance at all. It’s supported by a very beautiful green scenery on both sides of the road 🙂

One last final thing – if you can, avoid the main highway coming from Gilimanuk heading towards Denpasar. I know that a lot of times it’s just not possible since it’s the only road there is! But in some places you have an option to take some detours or use smaller roads. The reason for this is that the traffic there is quite dense, the road surface can be very uneven in some parts but the most terrible of them all are the huge trucks that use this road in order to carry massive loads between bigger cities. Most of these trucks should have been retired 30 years ago but they load them up with about 50 tons of cargo and then try to get up of all the steep hills on the road. The result of this is that every time they do that a MASSIVE cloud of black smoke comes out of their exhaust and directly to your face! In addition the maximum speed going up the hill is about 15 kph so you just have to go through the cloud of black cancer. I’d seriously advise to use face masks when driving on this road with a scooter. Could save some days of your life 🙂

Hopefully you found some value in this post and congratulations to everyone who made it to the end :)! Next post coming up already tomorrow!

Yesterday we went to visit a friend of mine who’s been living in Bali for the past 4 months. His place is about 2-2,5 hours drive from our accommodation so it was quite a journey. Getting there was without a hassle but driving back home in the dark was quite an interesting experience. Wouldn’t want to do it too often :).

The area that he is staying is called Balian beach and it’s quite remote place with not many people moving around. Beach is covered with beautiful sparkling black volcanic sand and there’s a nice place to eat right near the sea. Food is delicious and prices are very reasonable :). After lunch we drove around in the area, discovered a cave with thousands of bats and majestic cliffs and rocks carved by the sea through the years. But the main highlight of the day was definitely a perfect scooter driving road and the walk to nearby waterfall. Honestly, if all roads would be like this, I would just keep on driving with a huge smile on my face until I’m out of gas since it’s quite difficult to imagine a more scenic place. The narrow but with a perfectly smooth surface road winds through mountains, jungles, majestic views to rice terraces and small villages. All the people by the road greet you with smiles and children want to high-five you :). There’s hardly any traffic and all this combines into one of the best driving experiences ever!

At one point when you’re nearing the waterfall the scooter-friendly (if I say scooter friendly I mean about 1m wide narrow pathway between rice fields) ends and a picturesque walk begins. You most likely will get muddy, there’s a lot of climbing and balance exercises but the road and the views are totally worth it, not even mentioning the magical waterfall that waits you in the end. Since it’s quite off the grid and not easily accessible there was nobody there besides ourselves and I presume that it’s the case most of the time. So now don’t you all go flocking there together :). You can have a refreshing swim and just enjoy the nature at it’s finest. A truly memorable experience is guaranteed! You can really fall in love with Bali like this…

But as usual it’s best to see it with your own eyes (even if it’s through a laptop or a mobile screen). So here’s the third video of Bali 🙂

By now I can honestly say that Langkawi has the most beautiful nature I’ve ever seen so far! I know that I said it also about Phuket but I think it now holds the second place along with California. I wont include Estonia since it’s still my home country and it’s impossible to compare it with anything :).

There are numerous magnificent waterfalls, mountains, jungles, forests, beaches, cliffs and other naturally beautiful places in Langkawi. And in most of them there are not much people around. Today we went to see Seven Wells waterfalls and had a swim of a lifetime! There are several clear water pools on top of the waterfall overlooking the nearby jungle and the mountains. The water was very refreshing yet still warm. You could just lay back and enjoy the sound of flowing water, beautiful views and sun on your face. Once again one of the must-visit places!

In order to get to the top you’ll have to walk about 660 steps up the stairs and it’s quite a climb! Luckily swimming awaits you at the top as said above :). I’m not 100% sure about the exact number of the steps since at about half way through for the first time in SE Asia I saw a snake right next to the trail. It was about 1-1,5m long and brightly orange-brown-yellow colored. Luckily when noticing me he slowly moved into the jungle. I tried to Google afterwards but as it turns out there are more than 400 species of snakes in SE Asia and a lot of them look exactly as the one I saw. I just hope we wont meet them very often, especially the highly venomous ones.

Yesterday we visited the local cinema located in nearby city Kuah. As said in the title it was one of the best cinema/movie experiences ever! We chose the movie “Jumanji” which is one the best comedies I’ve ever seen, especially lately. From 10 I’d give it solid 8-9. Although the cinema itself was a bit old and had seen better days what made it special were all the people watching it! The theatre was totally packed and Malaysian people are extremely lively while in cinemas. The room was full of laughter and emotions during almost the whole movie and it really had a great effect on the whole experience. I’ve never seen anything like that before. Either way I’d highly recommend to go and see this movie, having a good time is guaranteed :)!

Although we had already been to the peninsula where Phuket aquarium is located in the beginning of our trip to Phuket, that time we didn’t visit the aquarium itself. Now we fixed that. And I’m glad we did since for a 180 baht entrance fee it has a lot to offer. A huge number of fish (one of the biggest I’ve ever seen included) and other sea creatures can be find inside numerous tanks. I also made a video about a lot of them so you can have a better look when I finish the next and most likely the last video of Phuket.

Aquarium had also a lot of written and video information about the sea life in Thailand and Andaman sea. Although as mentioned before a lot of damage has been done but at least in there it seemed that they are now starting to really work towards a better future – in order these hundreds of species of coral and fish would be there also in 100 years.

During our trip we also discovered a picturesque small waterfall called Ton Ao Yon (picture seen above). It’s located in rather remote area and there’s only one small road leading to it, hence we were the only ones there. What I really liked about it was that it’s located in the middle of dense jungle with a lot of trees and other plants covering the area. It was just like “the waterfall” when someone asks you to close your eyes and try to imagine a beautiful tropical waterfall. It also had many pools in it so we just couldn’t skip the opportunity to go for a little swim. At that point it just started raining which made the experience even more memorable. Once again I highly recommend a visit when you’re in Phuket.

Shortly after our visit to the waterfall the rain started coming down like I’ve only seen once here in Bangkok. We had raincoats so at least the upper body was relatively dry but otherwise it was soaking wet. The biggest difference compared to Estonia for example is that when it rains there and you get wet then most likely you will be cold also. But here, even if it’s a massive downpour, there’s still about 30 degrees so you don’t have to worry about that. Driving a scooter with this kind of weather was also quite interesting :). In lower places there were rivers and lakes where the road used to be and in some cases you even had to put your feet up since the water was so high. Of course you have to be extra careful since wet roads are much more slippery and the visibility is also quite bad. But we were cautious and drove slowly :).

Btw we have tried a lot of different exotic fruits here but none we’re really any good at least by our tastes. But now we found the passion fruit which is really good and healthy! Luckily we have a small fruit market about a minute drive from us where you can get a beautiful pineapple, several passion fruits, a bunch of bananas or something similar for only 20 baht. I wish there would be something like that back home also… 🙂

This time a very short post. I made a video of our visit to Doi Suthep mountain and temple + yesterday we went for a small hike near the Huay Keaw waterfall. I must say that the trail around the waterfall is one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever been. And it’s very easy to get there. Just use a local B1 bus to the zoo (15 baht per person) and from there it’s about 5 min walk to the beginning of the hiking trail. I have to mention that technically the whole area was closed due to the potential flash floods but we decided to take the trip anyways. We were just a bit more careful. And all in all due to the higher volume of water the scenery was even more picturesque. Have a look for yourself 🙂